Chapter Text
The soft pitter patter of footsteps left indents in the dirt as two young boys embarked on a mission. On the left, a blonde boy clad in holsters full of lollipops carried a large box with a complex contraption- he was the brawn of the operation. On the right, a white haired boy with a lab coat and goggles scanned pages full of scribbled calculations- he was the brains of the operation. Stanley and Xeno, a future sniper and future scientist, were off to test a new handmade weapon the latter had been tinkering with for the past month. With the help of the former’s keen eye, he was certain everything would go smoothly.
Both boys were so immersed in their conversation that they hardly noticed a kid around their age kneeling in front of the pond they were approaching. It was only once Xeno began to set up his dangerous creation nearby the pond that the kid spoke up, finally catching the attention of the two best friends.
Xeno tensed, prepared for them to freak out about his elaborate science project like every other kid his age seemed to, and Stanley narrowed his eyes at them, prepared to scare off anyone who dared to judge the aspiring scientist. Instead, however, they merely presented him with a quiet request, not even bothering to take their eyes off the water. “Excuse me…could you possibly test your machine a little further away? There’s larval salamanders growing in this pond, and I don’t want any vibrations to disturb them.”
Xeno blinked at them for a moment, a bit taken aback by the unexpected response. They didn’t seem even remotely bothered by the fact that he was carrying around such an intimidating invention, nor did they attempt to discourage him from testing it, they just didn’t want him to bother the creatures in the water. His curiosity piqued, the white haired boy hesitantly stepped closer until he could see that the mysterious kid held a sketch pad in their lap, the page filled with detailed sketches of the baby salamanders and the margins packed with notes about their species.
Stanley approached behind him, peering his head over his friend’s shoulder to see what had caught his attention. It was very rare that Xeno took any interest in the activities of other children, so the blonde was a little intrigued as well.
“You want us to go somewhere else because of some lizards?” Stanley questioned, clearly not particularly impressed by the reasoning. The kid finally looked up from their sketching, shaking their head at him. “Salamanders aren’t lizards. Lizards are reptiles, salamanders are amphibians.” They explained, as though the distinction was of great importance.
The blonde boy huffed, reaching for a lollipop and sticking it in his mouth, the stick peaking out from between his lips. “Ok, so you want us to go somewhere else because of some salamanders?” He corrected himself sarcastically. He clearly didn’t understand how the strange things swimming around in the pond were somehow more important than Xeno’s newest creation.
Xeno, on the other hand, looked thoughtful after scanning their drawings and peering at the small creatures beneath the surface of the water. “I see, I didn’t notice the elegant amphibians before! You seem to know quite a bit about the animals around.” He observed, watching as the wind flipped a few pages of the sketchbook and showed similarly detailed observations of other local wildlife. “Could you help us find a place for our test that wouldn’t disturb anything?”
He offered his hand out to the fellow child, to which they seemed to stare with a bit of confusion, their eyebrows furrowing slightly. Xeno laughed a little, recognizing the look on their face immediately as one he’d made not that long ago. “I guess you’re not used to handshakes? Don’t worry, I’d never given one to anyone either before I met Stanley.” He offered his best approximation of a reassuring smile.
After a moment, they reached out and tentatively shook hands with both boys, the three of them exchanging names as they agreed to help. That was how you met Xeno Wingfield and Stanley Snyder, who quickly became your best and only friends throughout childhood.
-
The sun had just gone down on a Friday evening, leaving the trio of friends to enjoy the rest of the night lounging around in Xeno’s room. School had left you exhausted this week, as every teacher seemed to decide to give out quizzes all at once, you swore that it was a coordinated attack.
Xeno, of course, had no problem acing everything the teachers had to offer him, the middle school curriculum was child’s play compared to the things he studied in his own free time. While your grades often rivaled his, it didn’t come nearly as naturally to you as it did to your friend, so you were the one out of the three of you that was always busy studying. While Xeno’s hobbies often gave him knowledge that ended up being applicable in school, your vast knowledge of animals and artistic talents would never earn the same kind of respect. That was ok, though, your friends always supported you.
The two of you had hardly gotten to see Stanley at all this week due to him getting in-school suspension, which you still felt a little guilty about. As per usual, he’d been defending you and Xeno from bullies and was deemed to be part of the problem by the teachers who were always turning a blind eye to the way you were mistreated. If they would just crack down on the bullying in the first place, then you wouldn’t need your guard dog of a best friend to protect you, but alas, he seemed to be the only one who had your back sometimes.
You were sitting on Xeno’s bed with Stanley at your side while you were working on a new drawing in your sketchbook, this time you were meticulously shading in the nine bands of an armadillo with your pencil as your blonde friend watched. You normally got nervous when people watched you draw, but Stanley’s gaze never bothered you. You’d learned pretty early on that the boy just liked to watch you do things, he was observant and didn’t mind just sitting and staring at you work for hours. You sometimes joked that he’d make an excellent sniper with his patience and watchful eye, but honestly you kind of thought it was a real possibility.
Xeno was by the window with the fancy new telescope he’d recently gotten for his birthday, mesmerized by the stars and excitedly jotting down notes about his observations. Out of all branches of science, he’d started to really take an interest in space lately. There was zero overlap with your own area of interest, but you still intently listened to each other ramble on and on about your respective interests.
As you finished your artistic recreation of an armadillo digging for grubs with its large claws, you glanced over at Xeno, smiling at the way he seemed to glow when he was really invested in something. “Are there any bats out tonight?” You asked him, though you doubted he’d been paying attention to anything other than the stars. When he fixated on something, he tended to tune everything else out.
“I don’t believe so, sorry to disappoint.” The white haired boy let you down gently, to which you nodded in understand. This was your little way of connecting your two interests, sometimes you’d sit beside Xeno and point out the animals in the night sky while he pointed out various constellations to you.
Beside you, Stanley finally shifted, crossing his arms behind his head. “I bet I could shoot a bat down with my slingshot.” He commented slyly, already staring at you out of the corner of his eye, waiting for your inevitable reaction. As expected, you took the bait and punched him in the shoulder, though it hardly packed any force compared to the muscles he was already beginning to build up. “No shooting bats, you jerk!” You complained, though you knew he’d never really do it, he could never do something that would upset you so much.
He only cracked a smirk, leaning in and ruffling your carefully parted hair, immediately making a mess of it. “Relax, I’m just messing with you.” He reminded you while you whined about your now disheveled hair. In retaliation, you grabbed the pillow behind you and smacked Stanley with it. Already perched on the edge of the bed, he began to lose his balance, but before he could tumble off, he made a grab for you. You made a startled squeak as you both ended up falling off the bed together in a heap.
The young boy still had his arm looped around your waist while you were clumsily sprawled out on top of him, looking dazed and confused. Once you realized the awkward position you were in, your cheeks flushed a bit, and Stanley’s did too as he registered how close the two of you were. Neither of you moved for a moment, just staring at each other with wide eyes, until Xeno peered over the edge of the bed at both of you.
“You two are absurdly inelegant.” He scoffed, rolling his eyes and helping you both up one by one. “Stan, you’re staying on my left. And you are staying on my right.” He looked at both of you pointedly, clearly expecting no more shenanigans as he placed himself strategically in between the two of you on the bed.
You laughed a little at how serious Xeno sounded, sometimes he really acted like a middle-aged man already. With the three of you now sharing the bed, you were a little squished together, but you always made it work. The trio couldn’t be separated, after all.
“Aww cool, it’s like a Xeno sandwich!” You joked, leaning your head on the white haired boy’s shoulder. This earned you a huff from him, though he didn’t make any move to push you away. He wasn’t nearly as affectionate as you and Stanley could be at times, but he wasn’t averse to touch. He just tended to get a little overwhelmed if you went overboard, so you had to be mindful of his limits.
On Xeno’s other side, Stanley draped an arm over the boy’s waist as the three of you got comfortable. That’s how you spent nearly every weekend night throughout middle school, snuggled up beside your two best friends at a sleepover. You three were practically inseparable, you just worked well together.
-
High school was it’s own kind of hell, in your humble opinion. You and Xeno continued to chill at the bottom of the social hierarchy, the both of you had never had any luck making friends outside of your trio. You were nerds who were always burying yourselves in your niche interests, and you both more or less sucked at social interaction. Although you’d adjusted well to each other, neither of you had really been able to evolve past the awkward kids you used to be— it was difficult for you two to understand other teenagers, just as difficult as it was for them to understand you.
On the bright side, Xeno was quickly shaping up to be your class’s valedictorian, and his science teachers always seemed quite impressed by him, there were even rumors that he might end up getting a solid scientific scholarship when he graduates.
Your grades weren’t too far behind him, but you were drowning in the amount of studying you had to do to keep up, which only further killed your already practically nonexistent social life. You’d had to give up your art classes after earning all the elective credits you needed, there simply wasn’t room in your schedule around all these big AP courses. There went the only school subject that you actually enjoyed, but at least science was alright sometimes. You’d absorbed a good amount over the years of being Xeno’s best friend, and at least some of it applied to your field of interest.
Once you got past the biology section, though, less and less of your animal knowledge was applicable to your classes, and it started to feel useless sometimes, no matter how important it was to you. You knew you weren’t stupid, you knew more about the animal kingdom than anyone you’d ever met, but the school system just didn’t seem to place value in the things you preferred to learn about.
Even when it came to planning for college, you’d had teachers try to steer you towards a more generally applicable biology degree as opposed to the zoology degree you wanted, telling you that you’d struggle to ever find work or that you might end up changing your mind once you get out into the ‘real world’.
You were starting to resent school for the way it always seemed to be keeping you away from your interests and forcing you to learn other things that you knew you wouldn’t need for your career. You could tell that Xeno was bored out of his mind most of the time, too. Even when he skipped ahead a grade in math and science, most of it was stuff he’d already had to teach himself for his own personal studies.
At least Stanley seemed to be fairing better than you and Xeno, for the most part. He’d joined JROTC as soon as he could, having decided that he’d be enlisting in the military straight out of high school, and he seemed to take to the structure and discipline rather well. Not to mention he was getting fit as hell, which had earned him a certain amount of respect from the more athletic students.
He was even starting to attract some admirers, and you couldn’t really blame them considering how damn pretty your best friend was turning out. Not that you and Xeno were unattractive, you each had your own sort of charm, but it seemed to be more of an acquired taste given both of your eccentricities.
You wouldn’t have blamed Stanley if he started hanging out with some of the other high schoolers who sometimes invited him to do things, but he stuck dutifully at the side of his two best friends. His presence alone tended to ward off anyone who even thought about picking on you or Xeno these days, he truly was your faithful guard dog. It meant more to you than you could ever express, and you were confident that Xeno felt the same. Despite the challenges of high school, the trio was still going strong.
All you could really do was just keep your head down and stay in your own lane, avoiding big social events like the plague. Unfortunately, you eventually had to consider what you would do about prom. The idea of picking a date brought about a whole new can of worms.
See, things had sort of evolved between you and your best friends over the past few years as you all got older and your hormones ran wild. The cuddling at sleepovers didn’t exactly feel entirely platonic anymore, not with the way you laid your head on Stanley’s chest and Xeno’s chest pressed up against your back. You could physically feel the way all three of your hearts pounded when you were in close proximity, it was hard to deny that something in the dynamic had changed.
Stanley was definitely the boldest and most sure of himself out of the three of you, and his teasing of you and Xeno had gradually delved more into the territory of flirting. At first, both of you would flush bright red and go unresponsive for a moment, but you gradually grew accustomed to the attention from your blonde friend, to the point that his little comments almost felt casual most of the time.
You were probably the second boldest, though most of your advances tended to be physical touch, since you weren’t so great with words. Naturally, you had to figure out what Xeno was alright with before your attention started to overstimulate him, but he was usually fine with you holding his hand or laying your head on his lap while he worked. Sometimes he would even squeeze your hand or pet your hair, so it’s not like it was entirely one sided affection.
Stanley, on the other hand, seemed to have very few boundaries when it came to his favorite people. Anyone else could screw right off if they wanted to touch him, but you and Xeno? You guys could get away with pretty much anything, and you most certainly clung to him at times when you were feeling particularly touchy-feely and didn’t want to be too much for your other best friend. When the three of you were sitting somewhere together in private, Stanley almost always had an arm around each of your shoulders. His touches tended to have an underlying protectiveness that was admittedly rather comforting.
Xeno rarely made the first move, he didn’t really seem to know how to initiate affection, so he was usually content to just reciprocate in his own way or take a bit of distance if he needed it. If anything, he usually just rested his head on Stanley’s shoulder or buried his face in the crook of your neck. Except for that one time when he was sick with a fever and got strangely snuggly…or that time that he went days without sleep and ended up curling up on Stanley’s lap and deliriously giving you a kiss on the cheek.
With all of that happening, there was pretty much an unspoken agreement that none of you would take any romantic interest in any of the other students at school. The three of you hadn’t actually addressed the elephant in the room yet and established where exactly you stood with each other, but none of you were stupid— you knew you were a little more than just best friends at this point.
With that being said, prom dates were usually between two people, not three. How could that ever work? There was no way you could go with Stanley or Xeno and leave the other one out, and there was no way they could go with each other and leave you out. That was how you came to the collective agreement to ditch prom and just have your own (date?) night.
That evening while all of your classmates were getting dressed up and dancing to the world’s lamest playlist picked by your teachers, the three of you were in Stanley’s car as he drove you to the now empty local park. Xeno reluctantly conceded when you called ‘shotgun’ and sprinted to the passenger seat, though he rolled his eyes and called you childish as he settled into the back seat.
Stanley rested one hand on your thigh while he kept the other on the wheel, though you could tell from the twitch of his lips that he was itching for a smoke. You weren’t entirely sure when the teenager had started smoking, he wasn’t technically old enough yet, but he seemingly had an infinite supply of cigarettes coming from somewhere. Naturally, Xeno recited the list of health risks caused by smoking like a damn PSA on a daily basis, while you made increasingly more absurd guesses about where he was getting a pack a day.
To no one’s surprise, the moment you all got out of the car, Stanley was fishing for his lighter in his pocket. You exchanged a knowing look with Xeno and both of you went to find a bench while your friend inhaled his next dose of tobacco.
The park was a small forested area with a playground in the middle, and before the white haired teen got a chance to sit somewhere boring, you grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the swings. “C’mon, I’ll push you…” You offered teasingly, which earned you an exasperated look from Xeno. “You know I’m a grown 17 year old, right? I most certainly do not need someone to push me on the swings.” He informed you, though he sat down on one regardless, letting you do as you pleased.
You honestly did try to push him, but you’d sort of underestimated how much bigger Xeno had gotten since you were younger. When the hell did he get so tall? You gave up before long and just settled for leaning over him, draping your arms over his shoulders and resting your chin on the top of his head. Eventually, Stanley came and took your place while you took the chance to start exploring and flipping over rocks, eager to see what creatures you could find hiding beneath.
You were so invested in the little beetles and isopods you’d spotted so far that you didn’t even notice the two boys moving until you excitedly turned around to show them a garter snake you’d just uncovered. You pouted when you noticed no one was there, scooping up the small reptile as gently as possible in the palms of your hands and venturing off to find your friends.
You followed the sound of increasingly nervous ramblings from Xeno until you came to the playground’s slide, surprised when Stanley appeared from behind it to greet you. Too distracted by your find to think about where the other boy was, you held out the garter snake to show your friend, who looked at it for a moment before simply saying “Cool.” You knew neither of your friends were quite as fascinated by animals as you were, but you always appreciated that they humored you when you wanted to share something.
You lowered your hand down to the grass to allow the snake to slither away, turning your attention back to the slide Stanley had appeared from. Xeno still hadn’t come out yet, so you ducked under the slide yourself to see what was up.
Well, Stanley officially broke him, that was your prognosis upon seeing Xeno just stare into space looking more flustered than you’d ever seen him before. He was so red you almost didn’t notice at first, but upon closer inspection, his face was covered in purple kiss marks. Your eyes widened, but eventually your expression settled into a knowing grin.
Stanley had taken to wearing lipstick this year, you couldn’t even count how many times you’d gone to the store with him to pick out shades. He’d gone through a red phase, a pink phase, even a more neutral nude phase, but eventually he settled on the signature purple that was now all over Xeno.
The blonde responsible ducked under the slide beside you, pulling you against his side. “Do you like my work?” He asked slyly, to which you failed miserably to stifle a laugh, earning you an indignant cry of “it’s not funny!” from Xeno. It was a little funny, though, but you refrained from further embarrassing your best friend.
Stanley leaned closer to you, his breath brushing against the shell of your ear. “Do you want some too?” He murmured, causing a flush of your own to rise to your cheeks. Suddenly feeling quite flustered at his forwardness, you glanced away but nodded, closing your eyes as you felt his lips travel from your cheeks to your forehead to the corner of your mouth.
It wasn’t long before you were slumped down beside Xeno, both of you huddled together as you basked in your shared embarrassment. Stanley sat opposite of you, looking incredibly smug about the effect he had on his smitten best friends.
Many more kisses were exchanged between the three of you that night, and by the time you all piled back into Stanley’s car to head back to Xeno’s place, you were disheveled messes. Xeno’s meticulously styled hair was a wreck, Stanley had practically no lipstick left on him, and your lips felt physically sore after the passionate exchange. By the next morning, you were best friends no more. They were your boyfriends, and you were their partner.
-
After years of college for you and Xeno, plus years of military training for Stanley, you all finally made it. The former was able to secure himself a highly esteemed job at NASA, and the latter was climbing the ranks like nobody’s business. A scientist and a sniper at last, and you couldn’t be more proud of your boyfriends.
Meanwhile, you were traveling the state doing field research on just about any animal you could think of, and the papers you published earned you positive recognition among wildlife biologists all over the world. Discouraging teachers be damned, you were actually doing it, just like you always dreamed you would. You even got to keep making artwork as a side gig, your prints of illustrated animals became somewhat popular within your community.
You and Xeno were closer than ever and shared a house together, complete with its own laboratory and an extra bedroom for when Stanley visited. Granted, he usually just slept in the bed with both of you when he got the chance to stay over, but it was a comforting thought that he had his own space in your home. There was always an ache that accompanied the absence of your blonde boyfriend most nights, and you wanted to make sure he knew that he wasn’t less important to you just because you saw him less now.
As years went by with each of you growing accustomed to your adult lives, a new possibly entered the playing field and demanded your attention. Marriage. It felt like the whole prom debacle all over again, and you spent countless hours lamenting the fact that you couldn’t marry both of your boyfriends. You and Xeno each quietly fretted about it in your own ways, but it was Stanley who was finally decisive enough to present you with the solution.
As per Stanley’s proposal, Xeno would marry you, since you already lived together full time and you were both now well established members of your respective scientific fields. In his words, it would just make more practical sense for the two types of scientists to unite under one last name, and you had to admit that there was some merit to the idea. Still, it never sat well with you that Stanley had sacrificed his chance to marry either of you, and it was a bittersweet realization that even now, he was still protecting his partners from hardships over his own happiness.
Even with the decision agreed upon, though, there was no way you were going to have a wedding that left out your boyfriend. Just as you’d done with prom all those years ago, you would find your own way to celebrate that would allow all three of you to participate, you were a packaged deal.
Thus, you quietly signed the official paperwork at the courthouse one evening and became Mx. Wingfield in name, but you and your new husband both knew that it would never just be the two of you as the marriage certificate suggested. You were a trio, always had been and always would be.
While others saw a duo of the scientifically inclined husband and spouse, the two of you would always know that there was a third, and that was all that really mattered. Although Xeno would always be your only legal husband, you both took to referring to Stanley as your husband as well when in private. The intricacies of your relationship were kept between the three of you, and you were the only ones that had the right to all the details. You were all private people to a certain degree, so it just sort of worked to let people make assumptions and remain ignorant, it kept them from asking invasive and ignorant questions.
-
For a while, you were thriving more than ever before, but every job comes with its problems in this imperfect world. For you, your research kept being requested in other states and even other countries at times, you wouldn’t be able to put off traveling long distances forever. For Xeno, the higher ups at NASA continuously overlooked his project proposals, rejecting every attempt he made to further the progress of scientific discovery in favor of hoarding their wealth.
You both heard from Stanley less and less as he got promoted, he was busier than ever with so many people under his command now. For all the love you shared with your husband, the nights still grew tense under the pressure of circumstances neither of you had control over.
There were many nights that you laid awake, listening to Xeno ramble about his ideal world where both of you would be free to make any decision you wanted, with no one left to stand in your way. You just held him tighter and wished with all your might for the world to be kinder to him. You were worried, but what could you really do to help other than be there for him? You both lacked the power to change anything, so all you could do was find comfort in the frustrated solidarity you shared.
After all, it’s not like he could just rebuild the world from the ground up to support his ambitions, right?
-
It had been an impossibly tough decision, but you finally accepted your first overseas job. You’d been so excited at the opportunity but terribly reluctant to leave your husband and boyfriend behind, especially when the former was dealing with so much stress lately. It had been Xeno himself who’d encouraged you to go, though, after seeing how much you seemed to light up at the prospect. Above all else, he loved you and wanted you to be happy.
Stanley managed to offload his duties for the day to spend one last night with you before you left for a month, and then you were off to the airport where you may or may not have cried your eyes out when saying goodbye. Other than the tinge of loneliness you felt without your favorite men at your side, the flight was relatively peaceful, and you made a safe landing in Japan by nightfall.
In addition to getting to study the native Japanese fauna around you, you’d been asked to volunteer as an educational guest for a local school’s science club. Although you weren’t always the best with kids, you were excited by the prospect of meeting some students who also had a passion for science. A part of you sort of hoped to meet someone who reminded you of you when you were a kid, but instead, you were surprised to find one who rather reminded you of your husband’s younger self.
His name was Senku, and you had a feeling that working with him and his peers was going to be very interesting indeed.